Richard Russell, Jr.

Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. ( born November 2, 1897 in Winder, Barrow County, Georgia, † January 21, 1971 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician (Democratic Party). He was both a Governor and U.S. Senator from Georgia.

Curriculum vitae

He was the son of the jurist Richard Russell, who later became judge of the supreme court of the State of Georgia was. Russell studied law and business in the early 1920s along with his father, a law firm. Between 1921 and 1931 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Georgia, since 1927 as its Speaker. From 1931 to 1933 he served as governor of his home state. In this capacity, he managed to rehabilitate the state budget in the midst of the Great Depression. He fell back on a worked under his predecessor Lamartine Griffin Hardman study of the so-called Allen- Commission, which had made detailed proposals to effective administrative reform. In 1933, he joined the Congress as a senator for Georgia. He held until his death this mandate. In 1952 he applied unsuccessfully for the presidential nomination for the Democrats.

He was a close friend of President Lyndon B. Johnson; However, he agreed not politically agree on all issues with him. He was cautious about the Vietnam War and in the question of the civil rights movement, he stood as a senator for Georgia in opposition to the policy of the White House. He was in 1956 one of 19 Southern senators who signed the Southern Manifesto, a document against racial integration in public institutions. During his long time in the Senate Russell was a member of several committees. He was also a member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy 1963-1964.

Russell died on January 21, 1971, was buried in the family cemetery in Winder. Shortly after his death, the United States Navy announced to name the submarine with the identifier SSN -687 (Sturgeon - class) according to Russell.